We are an active group of volunteers who support our community through blood, sweat, and year-round book sales.
VOLUNTEERS and DONATIONS of books, money, and time are always welcome! Call 703-829-5467.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

The Friends' Choice Award was established by the Fairfax County Library Board of Trustees in 2008. It honors the hard work, dedication and continued service of members of Fairfax County Public Library Friends groups.

Recipients are selected by their peers from their Friends' group. Our Reston Friends Group has 4 recipients this year, including Pamela Chin, who was named the number one Friend of all Friends Groups. We wish to thank all four of our recipients for their hard work and dedication. We are truly grateful for the outstanding contributions they have made.

Valerie Little

In August, 2009, Reston Friends held their first children, teen and education (k-12) book sale. These books were removed from donations for the semi-annual sales. It was a success and thus the children/teen/education sale was born. In March, 2010 Valerie volunteered to help work the sale. Following the sale she began sorting books. She took it a step further and was hauling books home to try to stay ahead of donations. She enlisted her daughter Kerry Little and friend Sherry Pinkston to sit around her dining room table and living room floor cleaning and pricing books. Yes, every book in the children/teen section is cleaned before being boxed. Recognizing they couldn't continue in this fashion, she created a team of volunteers who now meet every Wednesday to clean, price and box these books. She and Sherry took ownership of this sale and have increased sale revenue dramatically. Valerie is a source of information for these books and has become a valuable team player for the Reston Friends.

Kerry Little
Kerry you might say was "roped" into helping her mother with the task of cleaning books at home. Now, how many daughters would see the mountain of books before their mom and not offer to help? However, Kerry's love of books and "giving" back to the community quickly had her "hooked". Kerry hauls books home for pricing, hauls boxes of books to the storage area, and makes herself available to help whenever possible. Kerry has taken on assistant to the co-chairs of this team and with the constant work and team player attitude, she deserves to be recognized as a "star" player for the Reston Friends.

Sherry Pinkston
Sherry's volunteer work began through her friend Valerie Little. Being the good friend she is, Sherry, when asks to help clean books at Valerie's dieing room table, said sure; never realizing the task and goals they had before them. Seeing the need and good they did with the childrens/teens clean books, she joined Valerie and became co-owner of this sale. As books are passed around from hand to hand, it's a good feeling being a team player putting cleaned books into the hands of little ones. This has become a very important revenue generating sale. Sherry is a strong co-leader of this team and deserves to be recognized as such.

Pamela Chin - #1 Friend of Friends Groups
Pam Chin is the #1 Friend of the Fairfax County Public Library Friends because she has worked tirelessly and successfully to make us all safer, better and more productive. She did this by identifying an unethical competitor for used books. She extensively researched and monitored this group's business practices, legal standing and investors. With knowledge and insight, she then informed all the Friends groups and led the Friends in creating and implementing a strategy with multiple components including:

Strengthening the FCPL Friends identity in the community

Reaching out to news media and other Friends groups throughout the United States

Working with regulatory and advisory agencies to stop predatory practices

All the Friends groups looked forward to hearing Pam's updates as she waged war against this competitor. We cheered all her victories because we knew she was fighting for all of us. The result - the bins are gone and all the Friends have beautiful posters highlighting our goals, values and accomplishments. Pam is truly our #1 and we thank her.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Friends of Reston Regional Library brought in over $29,000 from the September 26-30 Fall Book Sale! Congratulations to all who worked so hard to make it successful, and to the library itself which will gain such a funding bonus! It’s always with held breath that we list volunteers. If your name is missing, please let us know. Every effort is appreciated, both sung and unsung! Thank you, thank you, one and all-- workers, contributors, and buyers.

Money for studying a plan for a new Reston Regional Library will be part of the bond referenda Fairfax County voters will be asked on Nov. 6. On Election Day, local voters will be asked to vote YES or NO on four separate bond questions in the general election for:

Ten million dollars of the library money will be allocated for construction of a new Reston Regional Library. The library is currently located north of Reston Town Center. Because this area will be near the planned Reston Parkway Metro station, it may be redeveloped into a more urban, mixed-use center with government facilities. As part of the redevelopment, the library may be relocated within this area north of town center. Bond funds will be used for the site studies, design and construction once the library location is confirmed, county officials said. None of the bonds are expected to raise tax rates for residents.

These older libraries will be renovated to add more public computers; enhance wireless access; add quiet and group study spaces; and upgrade old building systems to improve their energy efficiency and operations.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

A big THANK YOU is well deserved for our sponsors who helped make the Fall Book Sale a successful community event. The Fall Book Sale is a major fund-raising event for the Friends of the Reston Library. Proceeds from sales such as this have been used to sponsor library programs, services, equipment and supplies. We truly appreciate the assistance of our sponsors and the support they provide to our community.